Dimapur, November 23: Nagaland will have a ‘National Waterway’ in the coming years now that the central government has embarked upon developing major waterways in the country. So far the centre has announced 37 of said projects out of which Nagaland also has found a place.
The national waterway for Nagaland stretches to around 42 kilometres. Which waterway it was, was not specified in the information given by Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on November 17.
A decision to undertake development of National Waterways declared under the National Waterways Act of 2016 is based on Techno Economic Feasibility Study and Detailed Project Report, commissioned on each of them, by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the minister stated.
The Act has been enforced with effect from the 12th of April 2016.
The central government has decided to undertake development of 37 National Waterways in the next three years.
Specified stretches of River Sutlej and Beas have been included in the list of declared National Waterways as National Waterway 17 and National Waterway 98, in that order.
Significant cost-saving projections show that the promotion of Inland Water Transport will have positive impact on the reduction of cost of overall logistics.
On National Waterway 1 (River Ganga), works have been awarded under the Jal Marg Vikas Project for construction of Multimodal
Terminals at Varanasi and Sahibganj and Navigational lock at Farakka. Work on the Multimodal Terminal at Haldia is in the final stages.
On National Waterway 2 (River Brahmaputra), Ro-Ro transportation between Dhubri and Hatsingamari has commenced. Besides, slipway facilities are being constructed at Pandu. Normal development works are ongoing on National Waterway 3.
On National Waterway 4, modalities to award tender for dredging shoals between Vijaywada and Muktiyala on River Krishna is in the final
stages.
On National Waterway 5, work for development of a fairway in the non-tidal stretch between Erada and Padanipal has been ‘awarded,’ the minister stated.
Also, tenders for projects on the remaining 32 National Waterways to be undertaken in the next three years will begin from November 2016 and go on till December 2018.
India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. The total navigable length is 14,500 km, out of which about 5200 km of the river and 4000 km of canals can be used by mechanised crafts. Freight transportation by waterways is highly under-utilised in India compared to other large countries and geographic area
Based on the data available on navigable waterways, compiled by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, by 2015-16 a total of 106 water bodies with a minimum length of 25 km (16 mi) were declared as national waterways.
These have been classified into 3 categories based on financial viability and location as well as into 8 clusters based on locations. In first phase, 8 national water (NW) of category-1 that is considered most viable will be developed. There are 60 category II NWs are in coastal regions with tidal stretches and feasibility reports for 54 of these (6 are in phase-1) will be delivered from Ma 2016 onwards.
